Trinidad Express / In Form 1, my math teacher Mr Iro would take our class out to have pizza and discuss philosophy.

It was during these pizza limes that I learned about the economist Milton Friedman and his famous free lunch myth.

According to Friedman, the free lunch myth is the belief that governments can spend money at nobodys expense. In reality, Friedman argued, goods and services must be paid for, and the idea that governments can provide these at no cost to the persons receiving them, is a myth. Mr Iro was a good teacher. Unfortunately he was also a paedophile and was arrested a year later. In hindsight I should have realised why he kept telling me, Darryn free pizza is a myth.

Successive governments have done a good job at convincing citizens that we can have a free lunch. Enjoy some free university tuition, free medication, State housing, make-work job programmes, subsidised inter-island transport, and lower fuel, electricity and water prices. Dont worry, the bill is on us, they say. And if youre a religious or race-based group and feeling for a snack later, well have room service send you up some juicy government grants.

In 2016, the Government allocated $34.7 billion to transfers and subsidies alone. That was equivalent to 52 per cent of our total budget. Or 100 per cent of Shamfa Cudjoes phone bill after a month abroad.

The problem with Government subsidies is that no matter how well intentioned they are, they always do more harm than good. And they always end up benefiting the well-off more than the poor. For example, the fuel subsidy drains resources that could otherwise be spent on alleviating poverty. The Government Assistance for Tuition Expenses (GATE) benefits mostly students who can pay their way through The UWI. Subsidised utilities like electricity and water always end up suffering from poor infrastructural development, hurting supplies to the most vulnerable. And depending on which street you live on, programmes like CEPEP only benefit either community leaders or notorious gangsters.

The main problem with subsidies is that they stifle economic innovation. Since 1999 the governments generous handouts have been possible due to taxes collected from the energy sector. The huge oil and natural gas revenues during this time did two things: it allowed the government to ramp up spending on programmes to win over voters without taxing them, and killed off any incentives to diversify our economy. This week while being interviewed by Golda Bruce, Finance Minister Colm Imbert shrugged off questions about diversification by lamenting the risk averse nature of private sector. But Minister Imbert is thinking along good politics, not good economics. Political parties in T&T know that to win elections, they must promise their supporters things. And if there is no money to collect to fund said things, politics in T&T might have to be about high ideas and stuff. Gross.

This is why despite the fall in energy prices and production, the government is talking about stimulating the economy via spending, and raising revenue via taxes. Dr Rowley even said that without government spending the economy would crash. This is a fallacy as there is enough evidence to show that it is precisely government spending which retards economic growth. Government spending results in increased taxation, which inhibits private investment and savings. This is known as crowding out. Also there is a well-established correlation between the size of the State and economic growth. Mr Imbert may be right to slam the private sector for being risk averse, but he should acknowledge how decades of government policy created that risk averse environment in the first place. Because its like criticising your screaming neighbours for making noise, after you just went and set fire to their house.

To his credit, Mr Imbert has signalled his intention to phase out the fuel subsidy, reform GATE, and close down failing state enterprises but it is unclear how far his reforms will go. And he is unlikely to curb spending on the governments social and make work programmes, or implement real policies (like low taxation, rolling back the state etc.) to grow the private sector. He appears to foolishly believe that finance ministers can predict which industries in the future will be successful and so may adopt the tried and trusted policy of many before him called kick the can down the road. And why not? Politicians know that at the end of the day, Trinbagonians believe in getting their free lunch.

san fernando Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley prayed with members of the Muslim community and distributed zakat (charity) to the needy as he celebrated Eid-ul-Fitr at two masjids in San Fernando yesterday. He attended the Eid services on an invitation from Minister of Local Government Kazim Hosein, who is also referred to as a…

gasparillo The mother of a disabled child was shot dead inside her apartment in Gasparillo yesterday. Ornella Philips, 28, was shot once in the chest. Her body was discovered lying in the living room around 10 a.m. The country’s murder toll now stands at 243. Her eight-year-old daughter, Kayla, has cerebral palsy and depends…

ISTANBUL (AP): Turkish police stopped activists for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex rights from gathering in large numbers for an LGBT Pride event in Istanbul yesterday, but smaller groups made impromptu press statements, defying a ban imposed by the governor. Organisers of the 2017 Istanbul LGBTI+ Pride had vowed to march in central Taksim…

LONDON (AP): The list of high-rise apartment towers in Britain that have failed fire-safety tests grew to 60, officials said yesterday, revealing the mounting challenge the government faces in the aftermath of London’s Grenfell Tower fire tragedy. All of the buildings for which external cladding samples were so far submitted failed combustibility tests, Communities Secretary…

BAHAWALPUR (AP): Alerted by an announcement over a mosque’s loudspeaker that an overturned tanker truck had sprung a leak, scores of villagers raced to the scene with fuel containers yesterday to gather the oil. Then the wreck exploded, engulfing people in flames as they screamed in terror. At least 153 men, women and children were…

WASHINGTON (AP): Making a final push, United States President Donald Trump said he doesn’t think congressional Republicans are “that far off” on a health overhaul to replace “the dead carcass of Obamacare”. Expressing frustration, he complained about “the level of hostility” in government and wondered why both parties can’t work together on the Senate bill…

While reliving the horrors experienced by so many families after another spate of bizarre violence across the country last week, I couldn’t help but picture Tourism Minister Ed Bartlett’s rictus grin plastered on television screens while the elderly and even suckling babes were being gruesomely slaughtered inside their homes. While the rest of us were…

News day / CARLA BRIDGLAL AS PETROTRIN restructures in an attempt to return to profitability, the state oil company needs to manage and in some cases mitigate the power and influence of two of its biggest stakeholders: government and the Oilfield Workers Trade Union. “We have a number of stakeholders very visible in Petrotrin’s direction…

Share this:

News day / Nickolai Madray The 54th edition of the Southern Games came to a conclusion yesterday evening, at Guaracara Park, Point-A- Pierre, as hundreds of supporters gathered to view a series of sporting activities at the nation’s refinery. The games were sponsored by Petrotrin, TECU Credit Union, Blue Waters and the Ministry of Sport…

Share this:

News day / YVONNE WEBB MINISTER of Local Government and Rural Development Kazim Hosein has told residents of Moruga that the Bailey bridge he opened at Sixth Company, Circular Road last Friday, is safe. He said this is the third Bailey bridge constructed in a rural community through the Wooden Bridge Replacement Programme during his…

Share this:

News day / NALINEE SEELAL SHORTLY after being arrested yesterday, as he was walking back to a quarry in Valencia where he was hiding, a 38-year-old handyman/mason of Lawrence Village, Guapo, Pt Fortin expressed remorse and gave a confession statement to police, stating that in a fit of uncontrollable rage, he murdered his one-time lover…

Share this:

News day / RYAN HAMILTON-DAVIS Two Heineken fans won tickets to the second leg of the Champion’s League semi-finals,last Wednesday, in dramatic fashion, during the third annual Heineken “Share the Drama” promotion held at Digicel IMAX in One Woodbrook Place. Stuart Telfer and Cheyne Jobson were the first of seven winners in the promotion, who…

Share this:

News day / OPPOSITION Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar, this country’s first female prime minister, wrote a letter on the weekend to former Appeal Court judge Paula Mae Weekes, exhorting her to “go brave”, as she prepares today to take up the mantle not only as this country’s sixth President but its first ever female Head of…

Share this:

News day / ARCHBISHOP of Port of Spain Jason Gordon, Chief Celebrant at the mass commemorating the Feast of St Joseph that took place at First Capital Park following a procession from the St Joseph RC Church yesterday, told the congregation that TT desperately need the gift of fatherhood, which he likened to St Joseph….

Share this:

News day / RICHARDSON DHALAI THE Joint Trade Union Movement (JTUM) together with the Movement for Social Justice (MSJ) and the Emancipation Support Committee (ESC) have pointed out that any attempt to interfere in the internal electoral process in Venezuela, could destabilise the entire Caricom region. Addressing a media conference at the OWTU’s Paramount Building…

Share this:

News day / JADA LOUTOO FORMER Chief Justice Michael de La Bastide thinks the prospect of having Chief Justice Ivor Archie “off the scene” has some attraction. It could mean the “voices now raised at an unusually high pitch” might be lowered for the current imbroglio surrounding this country’s third-highest office-holder to be resolved more…

Share this:

News day / THE Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival (ttff) is partnering with the British Council to strengthen the business and entrepreneurial skills of the local film-maker. In keeping with the ttff’s film-industry development programme 15 experienced film-makers will come together for for a three-day workshop on project proposal writing and pitching from March 23…

News day / Crystal Abraham is 33, unmarried, and childless. She is an educator and writer, and in her free time she enjoys reading, hiking, and singing. Crystal is a practising Catholic, teaches confirmation in her parish church, and is also involved in the parish’s outreach programme to displaced persons. Crystal is currently undergoing treatment…

Share this:

News day / PAUL DeVerteuil and Brian Jackson both won titles when the IRP Fire and Safety Limited Senior Graded Open tournament concluded at the Queen’s Park Cricket Club Racquet Centre in St Clair, on Saturday. In the A Division final, DeVerteuil defeated Julian Chin 11-8, 11-5, 11-5 to claim the title. Brandon DeMontrichard outlasted…

Share this:

News day / LAUREL V WILLIAMS and RYAN HAMILTON-DAVIS PRAYERS, prayers and more prayers led to the capture of the suspect in last Tuesday’s gruesome murders of four people in La Brea. That was the view of relatives of the murder victims when told yesterday of the suspect’s arrest at a quarry in Valencia. “We…

Share this:

News day / RICHARDSON DHALAI PRIME Minister Dr Keith Rowley’s statement that internal politics within the PNM administration of deceased former prime minister Patrick Manning, led to a 12-year delay in the Vieux Fort housing project, was met with shock and bewilderment by Manning’s widow Hazel Manning, who yesterday gave an account of the project…

Share this:

News day / BODYBUILDER and avid fitness enthusiast Evan Jackson, is hoping the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs or a Good Samaritan, could come to his assistance as he is now homeless after struggling to find full-time employment over the past three years. Jackson, now 30 years old, started bodybuilding in 2014 after trying…

Share this:

News day / JALISA PATRICK is the first winner of the First Citizens Sports Foundation (FCSF) and Nalis Trivia Challenge. Patrick, 17, received a sports watch and bank account valued at $1,000 from First Citizens on March 14, at the National Library. The challenge is an online sports quiz intended to foster an interest in…

Share this:

The Trinidad Guardian / Madame Justice Paula-Mae Weekes takes the oath of office this morning at the Queen’s Park Savannah, Port-of-Spain, in a ceremony which will be witnessed by hundreds at the venue and thousands of others who will view the event live on national television. She will become the country’s first female President and…

Share this:

The Trinidad Guardian / Over the past few weeks the parents of swimmers who have been selected to represent T&T at the March 31 to April 5 Carifta Swimming Championships in Jamaica have been raising questions about the cost for their children to represent this country at the event. ASATT has selected 25 swimmers and…

Share this:

The Trinidad Guardian / Minister of Community Development, Culture and the Arts, Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly will deliver the feature address and formally commission the refurbished New Village Community Centre at Pilgrim Street, New Village, Point Fortin on Tuesday, March 20, at 2 pm. The completion of this facility is part of the Ministry’s ongoing Community…

Share this:

The Trinidad Guardian / A Marabella man who was shot by police after he allegedly drew a gun at them is in serious condition at hospital. The 25-year-old man, of Battoo Avenue, was shot once in the chest and three times in his legs. Police said the man had a Glock 17 pistol loaded with…